Eating Disorder ProAna Blogger Focused on Body Image and Self Esteem

I recently made a new friend I’ll call JH who said she was ready to see her doctor but she kept chickening out. She asked me for my advice on what to say to the doctor; here’s what I had to say.

First stop – psychologist, not a medical doctor.

Now don’t freak out over this thought and start worrying about what everyone will think about you visiting a shrink (who really gives a rip about this at this point since your life is in total shambles, plus screw ‘em, if they want to judge you so be it) The basis of your eating disorder is the way you think and the sooner you own up to this the better (and just an FYI in case you don’t know a Psychologist can not prescribe medicine, he/she would have you see a Psychiatrist for those needs).

Update 10/7/10 Reminder: mamaV is not a professional, nor do I claim to be.

I am not stating an ED sufferer should not go to a medical doctor.  It is my opinion that a psychologist is an appropriate first step, with the next step being a medical doctor.  The truth is that many of us end up in the ER or in a medical doctor’s office due to our physical condition, so in many cases the sufferer does not have a choice. However, when faced with a choice, I believe many medical doctors do more harm than good if they are not trained in eating disorders, leaving sufferers with questions about their illness & diagnosis. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard from individuals who are told to simply go home and start eating. Wow. Now that is great professional advice.

Would I go so far to say that eating disorders are 100% mental illness?

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I think this is the very first post I have ever written about religion. I am not sure why I have avoided the topic, but if I had to guess I would say the topic tends to be off-putting to some (and I certainly don’t want to seem like some holy roller).

So, on to the topic; do you pray?

I started wondering about this when I responded to a direct email I received from an eating disorder sufferer. I found myself almost typing the advice to add prayer to her life, but then I thought it was inappropriate since how do I know her background, culture, and other factors of her beliefs? For me to state she should pray seemed rude.

What do you think?

I have a regular prayer that I somehow made up in my head, I have no idea when, it goes like this;

“God, help show me the way and help me be the best person I can be.”

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If you happen to be in Milwaukee on October 24th. 2010, or close enough to drive on over, join me for the SELF ESTEEM STOMP!

This event is sponsored by NORMAL in Schools (NIS), a non-profit association that is very close to my heart. I met Robyn Hussa, the President of NIS, a few years back while in Madison, WI at a NEDA session. We clicked immediately. We became friends and business associates. And now we need to raise some serious cash for the organization ( so if you happen to have a spare million laying around please let us know).

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I often wonder just how many people think I’m a bitch. A bitch because I know what I want, I know how I feel, and I don’t let people treat me like crap.

How about you?

My guess is you let people walk all over you. You spend your day worried about what everyone else thinks about you fretting around asking yourself “do they like me? Am I good enough? Am I thin enough? Am I pretty enough?”

To hell with it already. I mean seriously girls, is it working?

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Meet Sophie Watson.

Quite a lovely, 14 year old girl isn’t she?

(She would be lovelier without those freckles though, don’t ya think? But at least her tattooed eyeliner, eyebrows and lip liner makes her otherwise shallow features stand out).

“I am happy. I just look a lot better, Sophie says.

“I like it now that it is always there and I don’t need to bother with it every morning.”

Her mother, a demented beauty therapist (that’s a new one), said she gave permission for the make-up treatment, according to BBC News.

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Here is a lovely video showing a dance troupe of 7 YEAR OLD GIRLS strutting around on stage to Beyonce’s “Single Lady’s” tune.  They not only imitate Beyonce’s hip thrusts and humping actions, they’ve got the full on lip pout come and get me look.

A) Who picked the song “Single Lady’s” for these children?

B) The outfits. Someone had to MAKE those outfits since to my knowledge Victoria Secret is not (yet) selling size 8 for girls.

C) The dance. These kids are great, you can see it when they actually twirl and jump, so why the need to turn what should have been a once in a lifetime opportunity into a fiasco should haunt them their whole lives.

D) Will the parents of these darlings please step forward and tell us what in gods name do you think you are teaching your daughter besides 1) I am a sex object 2) I am a sex object 3) I am a sex object.

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As if I wasn’t paranoid enough, now I have to find out about all the cancer causing chemicals in makeup. Take a deep breath and read this pile of crap;

To date, the European Union (EU) has banned 1,100 chemicals in cosmetics; the Food and Drug Administration in America has banned only ten. Yeah, I said 10.

Hello America???!! WTF?

One of the best examples is that Cover Girl waterproof mascara contains the same ingredient (petroleum distillates, an oil by-product) as Dr. Scholl’s Wart Remover—both of which are illegal in Europe (oh, so that is why “every lash for volumized  at their boldest, rain or shine” like the commerical says!)

How lovely. But at least we LOOK good right girls?

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I remember when I first started blogging, an athlete who was training for the Olympics wrote to me for advice. Here was a girl who had worked her entire life to get to where she was, but she started to realize she didn’t want it anymore. But she couldn’t just –quit, could she?

Her parents would freak.

Her dad would disown her

Who knows what her coach would do.

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I love to find hidden blogs, those focused on body image and eating disorders, they are like little gems just waiting to be discovered. I found Patricia,  the blogger of Beutiful, because she posted on a comment here about her blog. If you enjoy her poem below “Raisins, I highly recommend you go check it out, and sign up for her upcoming newsletter here.

AND, lets do something new,  please post your blog URL so I can find you, I’ll add you to my blogroll, and if you would return that favor that would be great!

XOXO, mV

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Raisins

Yea. I used to look in the mirror. Naked. Hoping. For perfection. Yea. I used to eat raisins all day. I used to want to be everything you wanted and never thought about anything that I wanted. I didn’t know. All I knew was that that mirror had better say “perfect.”

I saw the way you loved models. And celebrities. I saw the media. I saw the fitting room, how my body could not look “right.” To feel guilty for eating, to feel guilty about one pound, to feel anything at all, just to be “perfect.”

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Original t-shirt on Perez Hilton site

This Jezebel story about Perez Hilton typical of a blogger with no integrity what-so-ever…or so I thought.

Perez was found to be  promoting pro-ana merchandise on his site. But after being called out on it, the shirt didn’t disappear, it was instead revised with the text shown on the next page.

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This is a picture from Bergdorf Goodman‘s website. They depict the 19-year-old model Inna Pilipenko in clothing from Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen’s brand  The Row.

This is sick ok?

Not sexy. Not pretty. Not anything but totally sick.

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It seems “eating less” is cool these days according to Urban Outfitters. I guess it’s their hip and trendy response to the whole “obesity crisis” but perhaps they should ponder the repercussions of placing this shirt in their stores modeled by a pale skinny chick (that kind of looks stoned).

Irresponsible as hell.

On their web site, this is how they describe the product;

“Eat less or more or however much you’d like in this seriously soft knit tee cut long and topped with a v-neck.” Perhaps they should have printed all of that on there.

Whatever.

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Everything is wrong about this story -EVERYTHING (and don’t you dare rip into me about calling this girl anorexic, I don’t even want to hear it, let’s just call a spade a spade already and stop with this PC non-sense).

Ahhh, on to my points;

Healthy Magazine (oh, the irony) has digitally altered a model to appear to weigh more than she actually does. Or as the rest of the articles on this topic are quoting “Skinny Model Airbrushed To Look Fatter”

Irritating. Ridiculous. Just plain wrong.

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Trust me, I have many embarrassing images from my modeling days (the worst being when a cokehead “artist” shot an image of me in a black cape, soaking wet, with eyes pitched wide open and evil like some sort a witch kid).

BUT, it wasn’t quite as bad as this, um, fashion statement?

Send your fashion freak images to mamavision@gmail.com

Source: Jezebel

See the FaceBook Group here! We are up to 1,200 members!

Hi Guys, no time to post commentary, will do so in the comments, please go here to reach the story.

Lane Bryant Skelton Commercial Is Unfricken Real

UPDATE: 5/26/10

I am told I have been foiled (along with Huffington Post and MediaPost). This is a fake ad some knob created pretending to be Lane Bryant. Thank goodness, practically gave me a heart attack)

When Lady Gaga was recently asked by the magazine if there’s anything special she does to maintain her figure, other than dancing a lot and possibly hitting the gym as well every once in a while,  Gaga’s answer was as blunt as it is potentially upsetting for the fans who look up to her.

“It’s all about starvation! Pop stars don’t eat.”

Now coming from Lady Gaga, I figure her comment was a “joke,” but we all know that eating disorders are no joke, so this really ticks me off. Further, commentary from celebrity sites stating “she’s not exactly a size zero” adds fuel to the fire, again since one does not need to be thin to have an eating disorder.

Grrrrr!

Since the lame-o coment, Lady Gaga has dismissed rumours she’s suffering from an eating disorder – putting her recent weight loss down to her busy schedule.

The singer has sparked fears for her health in recent months after a string of problems during her Monster Ball tour, including passing out on stage in New Zealand and cancelling shows after she was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in January.

And Gaga’s increasingly slender frame led to concerns she is in the grip of an eating disorder, but the Poker Face hitmaker is adamant she doesn’t have a problem with food – she just can’t find time to sit down for proper meals.

She tells Britain’s The Times, “My schedule is such that I don’t get very much time to eat. But I certainly don’t have an eating problem.”

Tipsters informed us of the location of Oprah’s Inside Rehab program, Shades of Hope Treatment Center in Buffalo Gap, Texas. This treatment facility is where the program “Ruby” was filmed, shown at left with Oprah herself. Read more about it here.

Shades of Hope will be featured on Dr. Oz this Friday during the segment on food addiction. And they are twittering away about it today, so I am thinking they aren’t planning on keeping their involvement a secret.

Here’s what I am wondering, why would a treatment center want to participate in a Reality TV show? If you are so inclined, feel free to contact Shades of Hope and share your feelings. However, I ask that you do NOT go ballistic on these people.

Tell them your feelings in a mature, professional manner so we are viewed as the serious eating disorder community that we are, a group that truly cares and wants to make sure patients are not exploited in any way, shape or form. I understand this is a highly emotional topic, but we really do need to be respectful in order to be heard.

Ok, breathe…..here’s the contact info:

Phone Number: 1-800-588-4673
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 639, Buffalo Gap, TX 79508
Physical Address: 402-A Mulberry Street, Buffalo Gap, TX 79508

Email: Contact Us Form

Here is a video of the owner talking about why she got into this field of work;

Have you been interviewed for the show? If you would like to share your experience email mamavision@gmail.com

Join our FB group working hard to gain the attention of Oprah’s publicity team to let them know our concerns.

Let’s here your story of recovery, I think these stories are motivation for all of those struggling!